Election was referendum which enemies lost, says Ahmadinejad

Jun 30, 2009, 14:42 GMT

Tehran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday termed the June 12 presidential election as a referendum which ended in favour of the establishment and was a failure for the 'enemies,' official news agency IRNA reported.

'The election was de facto a referendum which was won by the people and all the enemies' plots to softly topple the establishment have eventually failed,' Ahmadinejad said in his first speech after the official acknowledgement of his re-election.

Tehran accuses the West of having plotted a 'velvet revolution' in Iran with the aim of removing Ahmadinejad.

In a meeting with officials of the intelligence service, the president said that the 'enemy' planned to weaken the people's power manifested through the massive turnout at the election.

'The democratic wave within the Iranian people after the 85 per cent turnout at the election could even endanger the interests of the imperialistic front,' he said - without further elaborating.

According to Ahmadinejad, the massive turnout was itself a popular acknowledgement of the Islamic establishment after three decades.

The Iranian opposition, led by Mir-Hossein Moussavi, has not yet acknowledged Ahmadinejad's re-election and still claims there was widespread election fraud. Moussavi has therefore called for an annulment of election results and holding new elections.

The Guardian Council, a legislative body in charge for approving election results, however confirmed on Monday night the re-election of Ahmadinejad and ruled out any further protests by Moussavi on election fraud.